This volume brings together essays of four scholars who are respected experts in specific approaches to ancient history: ethnicity, gender studies, archaeological theory and psychological history. Stanley M Burstein uses the issue of Afrocentrism and the Greeks to examine the influence of ethnicity in studying antiquity. Nancy Demand considers recent contributions of gender studies to the field of ancient history. Archaeology and ancient Greek social history are the twin foci of Ian Morris. Lawrence Tritle looks inward to the psyche in his reflections on the link between psychology and history by relating Thucydides’ experience in the Peloponnesian War with that of participants in the Vietnam war.

One reviewer commented that the scope of these essays “once again reinforces the overwhelmingly cross-disciplinary nature of historical discourse at present.” Another noted that the essays revealed a “look at the past in refreshing new ways.”